


Teaching

by beargirl1393



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Gen, M/M, Training, dwalin the a+ teacher, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 05:43:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8956711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beargirl1393/pseuds/beargirl1393
Summary: Nori thought that Dwalin knew nothing about children. Dwalin teaches Nori just how little he knows.





	

**Author's Note:**

> My gift for gem-under-the-mountain for the Nwalin gift exchange on tumblr. There's an original child character mentioned near the end, he's an OC I made up for an Ori-centric fic I'm writing called 'Surprises Are Better Than Promises'. You don't have to read that to understand it, all you need to know is that Ori had a fling before the quest and has a son with a hobbit named Fern.

Dwalin was good with children. Most, whether they were dwarves or outsiders, doubted that fact, and once Nori had been one of them. After all, the guard had been chasing him relentlessly from the moment that he had first began stealing regularly, and a few times Dwalin had even caught him. Nothing about Dwalin screamed 'good with children', if anything one would expect he would be the complete opposite. Nori suspected that he would be one of those who froze when they were left alone with children, and the thought was amusing enough that, when he heard that Dwalin had been asked by their crownless king to train his nephews, Nori had immediately set out to spy on him.  
  
It wasn't difficult to find a good spot to sit and watch, with enough of a view for him to see the training area but also sufficiently hidden from view so that he wouldn't be spotted. He knew that, if Dwalin saw him, there was no way that it would end well. At best there would be shouting, at worst he would be chased around the mountain again. While he normally didn't mind, and even orchestrated problems that resulted in that very outcome, he had promised Dori that he would stay out of trouble for at least the rest of the week, and given that his elder brother had bailed him out that week when Dwalin had gotten lucky, Nori was inclined to humor him now.  
  
What he saw surprised him. Fili and Kili fooled around initially, which was nothing new. The princelings spent a lot of time with Ori, and even with how often Nori left, he knew that they were good friends. Still, friends of his brother or not, he could admit that Fili and Kili could test the patience of the best dwarves.  
  
What surprised him was that, instead of shouting and scolding the boys, Dwalin patiently corrected them, explaining why fooling around while learning to use weapons would be a bad idea. Granted, at their age and skill level, both boys were using wooden swords rather than proper ones, but they were still able to do harm if the wielder wasn't careful. He taught them a few standard blocks, despite the boys' whining about wanting to learn how to fight. He didn't tell them to stop whining, merely explaining that it was important to learn defensive moves first, or else you would find yourself dead before you had a chance to attack.  
  
He didn't coddle them, however. During that lesson and the subsequent ones that followed (that Nori spied on while refusing to admit to himself that he was interested), he worked the lads hard. They would end the lessons bruised and sore, and he had no patience for their whining about that. Questions, endless questions, he indulged, but he wouldn't let them complain about how hard the lessons were. In essence, he was tough but fair, and Nori could tell that the princelings respected him for that, nearly as much as they respected their uncle.  
  
Nori was again surprised when, showing up to watch the sessions one day, Fili was practicing blocks on his own while Dwalin instructed Kili on how to use a bow. It was a child's bow, but it was clearly still difficult for the lad to draw the string back and aim. He'd heard rumors that the youngest prince was interested in elvish weaponry, but he had assumed that Dwalin would simply continue teaching Kili with his brother, with swords or axes as they were more traditionally dwarvish. Instead, he instructed the lad to the best of his abilities, then passed the lad off into the company of the archers (what few they had as it wasn't a popular choice of weapon) so that he could master his skill just as readily as Fili did with his blades.  
  
Time passed, as it always did, and Nori found himself observing Dwalin teaching another child to use a sword. This time it was Ori's son, a lad named Henri who was half-hobbit, and instead of the the ruins of Ered Luin, they were standing in the rebuilt training grounds of Erebor. Dwalin was the Captain of the King's Guard, Nori was the Spymaster, and during the course of the quest, they had realized quite a lot about each other. Now, they shared a bed and rooms, and Nori no longer had to hide if he wanted to watch Dwalin teach. Which was a perk in it's own right, because annoying Dwalin with his comments was always amusing and usually led to good fun once Henri was back with Ori.  
  
"You're good with him, you know," Nori said, watching as Dwalin cleaned up the area while Henri ran off to find his parents. After a moment of watching, Nori moved to help him. "There was a time when I thought you didn't know how to handle children, that you'd scare them or be scared of them. But you're good with Henri, just like you were good with Fili and Kili.  
  
"And you'd know, since you spied on me," Dwalin retorted, but there was no heat in the accusation. Nori had long since admitted to his spying and Dwalin had forgiven him. "Kids make more sense than adults do, most days. Not hard to take care of them, it's just common sense." He didn't think he had some gift for taking care of children, he was just sensible and for some reason they liked him.  
  
"Did you ever think about it, having kids?" Nori questioned. It was possible, Dwalin could have considered it years ago, or never have given it much thought. They had never discussed it, although granted, they had only been together for a few years at this point. To Men and Hobbits, it may seem like quite some time, but to dwarves it was still fairly new. And, in Nori's case, it was his first long-lasting relationship, so he was still learning as he went.  
  
"A few times, here or there," Dwalin said, shrugging and putting the last wooden sword back into it's place on the rack. "Thought about taking in a child, raising them, but I had to travel for work." It wasn't easy to find work in Ered Luin, either as a guard or as a smith, so Dwalin had often been hired by caravans who were traveling to Rohan, Gondor, or any other town where they thought their wares would sell well. The pay had been decent for the work he'd needed to do, but as he hadn't had a partner then, it wouldn't have been possible for him to take in a child and still go off for months at a time to work.  
  
Nori nodded, because he understood that perfectly. But..."We could adopt now." There were dwarflings who had been orphaned by the war who would likely wish for a family. Children were treasured, Nori knew that, even if they didn't have a family, they were not lacking for love or kindness where they were, but he thought that they could be good for one of them. They were unconventional, perhaps, but they had resources to care for a child, and their relationship was secure. They could manage.  
  
Dwalin paused in the act of drinking from the goblet of water Nori handed him. "Did you just ask me to adopt a child with you?" Nori didn't tend to make statements like that out of the blue, but when the thief turned Spymaster shrugged..."I think we need to talk about this more, but I agree."  
  
They did talk, of course, because it was a big decision, but eventually they welcomed a dwarfling named Nyi into their lives, the lass having been little more than a babe at the time her parents passed. Nori planned to train her up as his successor, while Dwalin argued that she would be a better guard. The two had many arguments over the matter during the course of their lives, and they didn't stop even when Nyi was old enough to choose her craft. Arguing was how they communicated best, and if some of those arguments led to pleasurable outcomes...well, why fix what isn't broken?


End file.
